Melbourne’s Christmas Day hailstorms have pushed the total estimated insurance cost of 2011’s natural catastrophes to $4.9 billion.

The figure is more than double the $2.2 payout in 2010.

Insurance Council of Australia CEO Rob Whelan says the 2011 figures are not final and will rise further as more hailstorm claims are received and assessed.

The Melbourne hailstorm was the eighth declared catastrophe for 2011, bringing the total number of claims received by Australian insurers last year to 265,000.

The total includes 58,463 claims from the Queensland floods in December 2010/January 2011 which cost insurers $2.4 billion.

Cyclone Yasi, which hit Far North Queensland in January last year, raised 72,203 claims with a total value of $1.33 billion.

In that same month, floods in Victoria triggered 7952 claims costing $122 million; and storms in February cost a further $412.3 million from 49,396 claims.

In Perth, 410 claims were made over bushfires in February costing $35 million. More bushfires in the wine-growing region in Margaret River in November resulted in 399 claims worth $52.2 million.